Cantu's error let Phils back in it

PHILADELPHIA — Fifty-five games into the season, Jorge Cantu sounded disgusted with himself for continuing to rack up throwing errors on routine plays.

Cantu is tied with Bill Hall for the major league lead among third basemen after committing his 12th in Sunday's loss.

Jimmy Rollins hit a soft tapper that Cantu fielded without incident, but his throw sailed well to the left of first baseman Mike Jacobs. It glanced off his glove, putting Rollins on second and quashing whatever momentum the Marlins created, scoring four in the top half of the third.

"There's no excuse for that," said Cantu, acknowledging all but one or two of his errors have been on throws. "I know it's a new position for me, but at this stage of the season it's not an excuse. I have to do things like you're supposed to do them and make the routine plays with good throws."

Third base wasn't a foreign position to Cantu before he joined the Marlins, but the bulk of his playing time came at second. Cantu thinks he can remedy the problem by raising his arm angle from the three-quarters slot he used as a second baseman to more of an overhand motion.

Cantu will continue working with infield coach Andy Fox and will seek out Jim Presley, who played 911 games at third in the majors, for help.

"Honestly, I feel capable of playing that position every day," Cantu said. "At the time to make that throw I have to correct my arm angle. It keeps carrying on me as if I'm throwing from second.

"Sometimes the errors don't cost us that much, but sometimes it's an important game and a tight game, and a run makes a difference. You try not to make errors and they're part of the game, but if you can avoid them that would be the best thing."

Costly drop

Cantu's error put Rollins on and an Andrew Miller miscue allowed him to score. Miller nearly orchestrated a great defensive play to eliminate Rollins from the base paths, but instead he watched Rollins trot home.

Rollins tagged up from second on Shane Victorino's fly ball to center. Miller backed up third base on the play and watched Cody Ross get it back to Hanley Ramirez. Cantu drifted away, but Miller saw an opportunity to sneak up behind the runner.

"Rollins started playing around off the bag," he said. "Hanley saw me the whole time and we should have had an out right there. I just dropped the ball. If I catch it, I think he's out by a couple of feet without a problem. Is it too risky a play? I don't know. I think we should have made it. It's my fault for not catching it and putting the tag on him."

Miller hadn't secured the ball before he attempted to apply the tag. The ball trickled away far enough for Rollins to dart home with his team's second run.

"I was like, 'How the heck did that happen?' " manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "Miller came in and said, 'We had him,' but that inning starts off with a mistake there."